North Carolina associate head coach Andrew Calder has guided the Tar Heels in the absence of Sylvia Hatchell.

Photo: Chuck Burton, Associated Press

North Carolina associate head coach Andrew Calder has guided the...

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FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2014 file photo, North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell addresses the crowd at halftime of an NCAA women's college basketball game against Maryland, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Hatchell says she could return to coaching while battling leukemia if the Tar Heels reach the Final Four. Fourth-seeded UNC faces No. 1 seed South Carolina in California at this weekend's Stanford Regional. If her team advances, Hatchell said Thursday, March 27, 2014, her doctor has told her that being on the sideline in Nashville, Tenn., is "very doable." (AP Photo/Ellen Ozier, File)

Photo: Ellen Ozier, Associated Press

FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2014 file photo, North Carolina head coach...

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North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell is congratulated by Boston College coach Erik Johnson after recording her 900th career win, in North Carolina's 80-52 win over Boston College in an NCAA college basketball game in Boston on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Sylvia Hatchell and Andrew Calder have worked together for 28 years as head coach and associate head coach of the North Carolina women's basketball team. They don't sugarcoat things for each other, Calder says.

The message she gave him in October, shortly after she was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame with more than 900 career wins, was pretty pointed. She had leukemia. He'd have to guide the team while she got treatment.

"We're like brother and sister," Calder said Tuesday. "It was very difficult."

Hatchell, 62, took a leave of absence this season, so she'll be watching from Chapel Hill when her fourth-seeded Tar Heels take on second-seeded Stanford on Tuesday with a trip to Final Four on the line.

The Cardinal have reached the Final Four six of the past seven seasons, and the regional final at Maples Pavilion matches an experienced Cardinal team against a team that starts three freshmen, brings two more off the bench and has no seniors in its 10-woman rotation.

Hatchell's cancer is in remission, and she completed her last round of chemotherapy a few weeks ago. Her doctors have said that if the Tar Heels reach the Final Four, she could join them in Nashville.

She and Calder talk frequently on the phone and were at it again Tuesday on how to stop Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike, a finalist for every national player of the year award.

Hatchell issues a game plan before every game, but before she does, she and Calder pick each other's brain. "I'm watching a lot of video, so I tell her what I'm seeing from the other team," he said. "She's watching games on TV, making notes."

Sometimes they'll see things differently. "A good assistant will disagree with the head coach sometimes rather than say yes all time," he said. "I give my points and she gives her points. Then in the end, she'll go my way sometimes too."

At the moment, Calder's biggest concern is the sore ankle of freshman sensation Diamond DeShields. She rolled it in the opening minutes of Sunday's 65-58 win over top-seeded South Carolina. Later she tweaked an old knee injury, but the ankle is the greater concern. Calder said her status won't be decided until game time.

DeShields, the daughter of former big-league infielder Delino DeShields, is a 6-foot-1 guard who averages a team-leading 18.1 points per game. She was ACC Freshman of the Year. Last year the winner was her teammate, Xylina McDaniel, daughter of former NBA All-Star Xavier McDaniel.

DeShields, McDaniel and the rest of the Tar Heels have received frequent texts from Hatchell this year. One to DeShields, for example, read: "I have faith in you. I'm proud of you. Go out and play hard."

Things have been a little different under Calder in practice. "We don't have that motherly presence," McDaniel said.

They'd love to give Hatchell her fourth Final Four appearance; her team won the title in 1994.

"They're playing for her," Calder said. "She recruited them. She told their parents she would be their mother away from home. Yes, they love her, and they're playing extremely hard for her."